Fog Harbor Fish House is San Francisco’s most Yelped restaurant, with more than 13,000 Yelp reviews. The family-owned spot in Fisherman’s Wharf serves 400,000 guests a year and has been open since 2007. It belongs to Simco Restaurants, which also runs five other Pier 39 spots, including Wipeout Bar and Grill and Pier Market Seafood Restaurant. Ryan Simmons says Fog Harbor gets a little more than half of its diners from the Bay Area’s nine counties. His team says many guests return five to seven times a year, and the restaurant works hard to avoid the tourist-trap label. Bob Partrite says consistency matters, from the greeting to the table service to how the food looks on the plate. The menu leans on sustainability, with seafood sourced through Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. That includes petrale sole, rock cod, clams, scallops, oysters and mussels, plus crab from TwoXSea. On a recent lunch visit, the chowder was smooth and creamy, with a gluten-free roux made with rice flour. The cioppino was loaded with seafood, and the risotto came with four jumbo scallops and a lot of crab. The swordfish arrived flaky and delicious over roasted vegetables with chimichurri sauce and pesto aioli. Fog Harbor Fish House is at Pier 39 in San Francisco and is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Dining and Cooking